What role do catalysts play in chemical reactions?

Catalysts play a crucial role in chemical reactions by lowering the activation energy barrier, which is the energy required for a reaction to proceed. By providing an alternative pathway for the reaction, catalysts enable the reactants to convert to products more easily, thus increasing the rate at which the reaction occurs without being consumed in the process.

This characteristic means that a catalyst can participate in the reaction mechanism, facilitating the transformation of reactants to products, and then be regenerated to its original state, ready to catalyze subsequent reactions. This efficiency in promoting reactions without undergoing permanent changes is what makes catalysts essential in various chemical processes, including industrial applications and biological systems.

In contrast, catalysts do not affect the equilibrium constant of a reaction; they help achieve equilibrium faster but do not change the position of equilibrium. Similarly, they do not slow down reactions, rather they speed them up, and they are not consumed in the reaction, allowing them to be reused multiple times.